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Far-right Israeli MP visits Jerusalem's al-Aqsa compound

A far-right Israeli politician who wants Jews to be allowed to pray at Jerusalem's al-Aqsa compound visits the site, despite President Netanyahu's call for restraint. Vanessa Johnston reports.

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Far-right Israeli MP Moshe Feiglin defies Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and enters Jerusalem's al-Aqsa compound.
For decades, Jews have been allowed to visit al-Aqsa -- which holds significance for both Jews and Muslims -- but not allowed to pray there.
Now Feiglin is on a campaign to change that.
SOUNDBITE) (English) ISRAELI LAWMAKER, MOSHE FEIGLIN, SAYING:
"I call the government, I call the Prime Minister to change this attitude and to open the mountain to every Jew who wants to come and in a peaceful way to pray, pray to God at his holiest site."
Earlier this week, clashes erupted between Israeli police and Palestinians...
...after an Israeli-American activist, who had spoken out against the prayer ban, was shot and seriously wounded...
...and the suspect, a Palestinian man, was killed by Israeli police.
Amid rising tension, Netanyahu says he's determined to preserve the status-quo.
(SOUNDBITE) (Hebrew) ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER, BENJAMIN NETANYAHU, SAYING:
"It is very easy to set religious fires. It is much harder to extinguish them...What we need now is for tempers to cool. What we need now is calm and restraint."
Muslims called for Feiglin to leave al-Aqsa, which is run by Jordan's religious authorities.
(SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) RESIDENT OF JERUSALEM, AIDA SIDAWI, SAYING:
"The zionist extremist raided Al-Aqsa mosque, and they did not let us enter to pray. This is our mosque, this is our right, it is part of our religion and we will not give it up."
Netanyahu has warned that a "prolonged struggle" may lay ahead.

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